Bring it on!

Ah, the English summer. There are few times that John Major’s idealised vision of the English village, featuring warm beer and people cycling to church bears any resemblance to reality, but on the eve of the first test of summer it is hard not to be misty eyed at the thought of the resumption of test cricket. Either that or the pollen count is rather high.  

England’s startling success in the Ashes seems a long time ago now, the preserve of DVD box sets and faithfully clutched copies of Wisden, but it is less than five months since the sprinkler dance was performed in Sydney. Such is the whirligig of modern international cricket that much one day water has passed beneath the bridge since then, but the fact remains that this is a fine side who will take some beating. The Andrews Strauss and Flower have fostered an enviable atmosphere within the camp that will have survived the travails of the latter part of the winter and the fast bowling resources, in particular, are enviable. Stuart Law, the new Sri Lankan coach, was quoted this week as saying that he considered England to be the best test side in the world and, while it may be a little premature to make that statement, it would be foolish to laugh the idea out of court. England’s improvement since the debacle of 51 all out in Jamaica has been startling, but this summer will be a test of where they truly stand in test cricket’s pecking order.

One thing that can be guaranteed is that they won’t be underestimating Sri Lanka. By keeping faith with members of the Ashes squad they have, in spite of the line of questioning adopted by the increasingly deranged Gary Richardson on Radio 5, shown admirable continuity. As Geoff Miller pointed out, it’s meant to be difficult to get into an international side. Eoin Morgan’s knock at Derby will have soothed the nerves as well: one suspects that he was the selectors’ preferred option for number six, but had he failed and Ravi Bopara scored well, as he has done for Essex in recent weeks, then it would have been a difficult decision. The injury to Tim Bresnan has also smoothed the way for the return of Stuart Broad with, presumably, Steven Finn missing out.

Sri Lanka have a less settled feel to them. Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene are all world class performers at the top of the order but their newly Murali-less bowling, for all of their second innings heroics against the Lions, looks pretty toothless and the premature departure of Nuwan Pradeep hasn’t helped their cause. It remains to be seen what the fall out of the post-World Cup shenanigans will be since the top players immediately hightailed it to the IPL, but they are going to have to pull together and work hard if they are going to enjoy their summer. The freakishly dry weather may create conditions that suit them better than those endured by Pakistan last year, but it is still hard to see them bowling England out twice.

So, having correctly predicted the outcome of the Ashes series and the World Cup it’s time for me to make myself a hostage to fortune once again. England to win 2-0.